What does CL stand for?

A C-130H aircraft took off from Kirtland Air Force Base and fired a high-power chemical laser above White Sands Missile Range, about 200 miles south of the Albuquerque base.

The high-power chemical laser is expected to shoot down an enemy missile during tests in the fall.

That answer is the YAL-1A, a modified Boeing 747-400F equipped with the Airborne Laser (ABL) system, which includes a high-energy chemical laser designed to destroy ballistic missiles in their very vulnerable boost phase, missiles such as Iran s Shahab series.

And Pentagon chiefs announced last night they are determined to fire the giant laser named MIRACL - Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser.

Marquet of SDIO reports that a space-based chemical laser is farthest along, having about 15 years of research and development behind it.

14, 2000 Team SBL-IFX, a joint venture comprising TRW (NYSE:TRW), Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is using results from a recent test of the TRW-built Alpha chemical laser to validate and refine the software models being used to design and predict the performance of the high-energy laser required for an experimental space-based missile defense system proposed by the Air Force and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.

But that's small potatoes compared to the billions spent to develop high-flying concepts such as the airborne laser program, which seeks to mount a high-power chemical laser on lumbering 747 aircraft so it can shoot down ballistic missiles.

recently fired a high-energy, chemical laser equipped on modified commercial aircraft that can shoot down ballistic missiles.